Love of Swords and Science
by HVK
Summary: A collection of all my further Fubblegum one-shots; sweet and fluffy (perhaps occasionally dramatic) stories of Finn and Princess Bubblegum romance. Some occasional AUs, generally canon-compliant. Latest post is Caring, where Bubblegum muses on moving in with Finn after leaving the throne.
1. Sleep Over

Written after I say Five More Short Graybles, and taking place immediately after the Candy Kingdom burned down.

After all, PB had to sleep _somewhere. _And Finn is always happy to have her around...

Disclaimer: I do not own Adventure Time.

* * *

The day had been fun, but the day had not been long, and Finn, changing into his pajamas, thought about how weird it was that he was already happy to see his bed soon.

Jake Jr. was always fun to have around; she seemed to act like she was older than him (and technically true, in rainicorn aging ways, but Finn didn't think she had the experience for it to count, and anyway it rankled to have anyone condescending to him), but she was still a good niece, and it was fun to see her. And that, Finn thought as he walked to his bedroom, reminded him of Jake mentioning something, a while ago, about her getting involved in his life. Finn was vaguely aware of Jake having some rather shady dealing in the past, and wasn't sure he really wanted to know more. Still, if Jake Jr. wanted to be around in Jake's life, and take after him, Finn was happy.

Sometimes, he wondered what it would have been like for Jake to have _stayed _moved in with Lady, and though it had been really scary at the time, he thought it would have been more fun for Jake to stay with Lady full-time. To... move on, and keep with his family.

And Finn's stomach gave a little uneasy twist at that. He was getting older, and his thought kept drifting to that sort of thing.

Family. He gave a deep inhale, and thought that the tree house seemed too open sometimes. Not like it was big, but that there wasn't enough in there. He just really thought, sometimes, that there should be more people in there, like when him and Jake had their parties.

He missed home, all those people there all the time.

But now, he walked into his room, and Jake was there, both of them ready for bed, Jake Jr. long since bid goodnight, where she was crashing on the couch for the night. Finn yawned as he walked in, stretching a bit and feeling tired and trying to not think about being lonely in a tree house where his brother already lived. He said aloud, faking cheerfulness, "Welp, time to turn in!"

"Alrighty, man!" Jake walked after him, a cup of pre-sleep hot chocolate in his hand; he took a sip and sniffed the air. "Why does it smell like pure femininity seeping through testerone in here?"

"Guys!" Jake Jr. complained. "Keep it down, huh?"

"Sorry!" To Jake, Finn shrugged. "That smell... it's magic or something, I guess." He frowned and sniffed the air. "It _does _smell familiar though. And... _really _nice."

"That's what you always say, mang!" Jake said. "The, the 'magic or something' bit. Not the other thing. But you do that whenever you're around Marcy or Flame Princess or Princess Bubblegum, so there's that too."

"It's the only way like half the stuff in our lives makes sense!" Finn retorted.

"True," Jake said, sipping more hot chocolate.

Finn paused. "Huh," he said quietly, thinking about what Jake had said about his ladyfriends. He couldn't help that they smelled nice and made him relax... and he did smell a certain sugary niceness. It smelled really familiar... and a bit like burnt bits. Weird. Finn went to his bed… and paused, noticing that there was an unusual set of folds in it that looked like something quite large in there.

There was a certain suggestion to the shape of it that looked intimately familiar; a curvy largeness, a suggestion of a very tall frame and wide hips and general female bigness that Finn did his best not to dwell upon because he got embarrassed and had awkward physical reactions that made him _more _embarrassed even if half the time he thought the older girls were deliberately trying to signal something to him. It was a curviness that immediately put him in mind of pink and smartness and big hugs that were also kind of squishy; Marceline was usually super-skinny or even looking a little bit like a boy (even if sometimes she made herself mega-curvy for fun), and Flame Princess was just plain _big _all over, but mostly pear-shaped and a lot like Finn's own body type.

A puzzling situation. Finn tilted his head pulled the blankets off.

Blue eyes, dazzling in all that pink, blinked politely up at him. Finn gawked at the woman in his bed, as she sat up a bit. "Oh, 'sup, Finn?" said Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum, leaning slightly up in her rocker t-shirt pajamas and sleeping shorts, her gooey hair standing up in frizzled lumps instead of the usual dreadlocks she favored, blinking at Finn. Her lips curved up, in a cute little smile. If anything, she looked relieved to see him, apart from any questions that she clearly thought that she had every right to be here in his bed.

Jake's jaw dropped. It made a small sound when it hit the ground. Finn sputtered and said, "Peebs?! The stuff are you doing in my bed?!"

Bubblegum yawned and stretched, snatching the blanket back from Finn and pulling it over herself. "What do you think, hon? Sleeping!"

"…I figured that, yeah, but why my bed!?"

"Guys!" Jake Jr. yelled. "I said quiet! Trying to sleep here!"

"Sorry, Jake Jr.!" Bubblegum said. She sat up all the way, and looked so tall that she was nearly twice Finn's size sitting up on his bed. He gulped, intimidated a little; if his bed wasn't so big, she wouldn't have fit. He wondered why she was sleeping there, when there were other beds for her in her own castle. Bubblegum sat up, looking surprised. "When did she move in?"

"She's just staying," Jake said, momentarily recovering from the shock of her in Finn's bed. Admittedly, he had honestly _thought _it would have happened, eventually, but not like this or so soon, especially considering recent events. He had expected it might be Flame Princess in any event. Or perhaps Marceline. Or all three girls with Finn, he had a 'take a third option' approach to choice issues. But then he'd need a bigger bed.

"Ah!"

"Look, uh, Princess!" Jake said. Bubblegum winced a little at the formality, Jake was clearly annoyed. "What are you doing here, mang? Don't you have a whole castle to sleep in?"

But she shook her head. "Not... for the moment. My kingdom has to be rebuilt! Cinnamon Bun got it burned down, the poor _shmuck_."

"What!?" Finn said, looking horrified.

"Don't worry, no one was hurt! But, ugh, I didn't have anywhere else to go." She shrugged. "Well, I suppose I did, but I'd rather come here."

"What, you really… wait, Cinnamon Bun did _what?!_"

"Dang, why does all the cool stuff happen when I'm not paying attention?" Jake complained.

"Why here, buddy?" Finn said.

Bubblegum's shoulders lowered. She looked nervous. "Marceline isn't exactly welcoming to unexpected house-guests (except maybe you, Finn, but then you just have that effect on people), I have no idea where Lady is these days, I think Lemongrab ate his clone and I just don' think I'd be comfortable staying with any of them... oh, Glob, this is way more awkward than I thought it would be...!"

"…Lemongrab did what now," Finn said flatly.

Bubblegum shook her head, and there came a dark look into her eyes. "…I'll resolve that." She smiled, and Finn noticed that her teeth were… _sharp_. Pointed and shark-like in the same way that the Lemongrab's were. Morbidly, he wondered if some of Lemongrab's more frightening traits had been inherited from Bubblegum, but she controlled them better. In retrospect, he supposed she definitely did; she ate her citizens that was a little unnerving, even if they didn't seem to mind and it wasn't fatal for them (and was essential for her to continue living). Her expression changed, awkward again, and she blurted out, "Unless… oh dear. If you're not comfortable having me here-"

"No, no!" Finn said urgently, a little too fast. "It's okay, Peebs!" She looked doubtful. "Really! It's cool! I just… geez, I didn't see this coming."

"Oh thank Glob!" She smiled and chuckled a little. "I don't see why, Finn. You're my-" She stopped. She began again. "You're my_ friend, _Finn. My… my very best friend." She smiled.

Finn smiled back, and didn't think about what she might almost have said.. "…You really rather stay with me instead of anyone else?"

"Finn, even if I _did _have any other friends I like as much as you, I don't think I'd be comfortable there. It wouldn't feel like home." She tilted her head down. "…May I stay for a little while?"

"Um, uh… duh, Peebs!"

She grinned, and briefly Finn was unnerved by the shape of those monster-teeth. Even _Marceline _didn't have teeth that scary looking. "Great!" Her grin turned impish, and suddenly Finn found him off his feet, pulled into his bed with a strong fist at his collar, and abruptly he was under covers, wrapped in the arms of the much larger Candy Princess. She hugged him, warm and a little squishy... squishy, _everywhere_.

Her warm breath against his ear, and lips against his skin. "I knew I could rely on you, Finn," she said, her voice warm and almost a bass note.

Jake downed the rest of his hot chocolate. "So, uh… you guys want I should leave the room because this is looking kinda personal…"

"_Dad!_" Jake Jr. yelled.

"Sorry, sweetie! Hey, can I crash with you on the couch? One of Finn's ladyfriends is crashing and I think she's kinda in a love mood!"

"What? Sure, fine, whatever, just be quiet!"

Jake hurried out of the room.

Finn said, "Um..." he giggled, and hugged her back. "Huggy girl."

"Oh, hush," Bubblegum said, snuggling Finn closer. "I sleep better when I have something to cuddle with." Now, her eyes were closed.

"…Peebs, I've seen you when you're waking up or going to bed loads of times, and I've _never _seen you snuggle ever."

"Oh, hush," she said again, and gave Finn a squeeze that made him squeak, and a kiss that made his sleep very nice.


	2. Enlightenment and Age Difference

I wrote this solely as a counter to an obnoxious anti-shipper going around Tumblr saying that Fubblegum and Finnceline were automatically child abuse for some stupid reason; when someone hates on my ships, I write fics to spite them and counter their hate. It also led to me wanting to make this fic storehouse, so good on me for that!

Disclaimer: Still don't own Adventure Time. My crack team of legal gorillas and law sharks are working on it, but no real progress.

* * *

Finn and Princess Bubblegum sat atop one of the infamous Dancing Enlightenment Mushrooms of Saint Ungulant, and the massive mushroom slowly but energetically smashed it's way through the landscape (rather like a glacier sped up) to clear a path for the spores of the organism below, and Finn moved fast around Bubblegum, the two of them laughing as they held hands and he let her spin him up into the air.

She revolved once, twice, hands holding firmly into Finn's smaller ones, and she marveled that he was rather feminine in his appearance; his hands were small for a boy's, and though for all the scars and callluses and swellings around the knuckes, they were surprisingly delicate-looking. She giggled, squeezing them, and fell backwards, landing on her backside. Finn fell with her, collapsing into her lap. With her recent infusions of candy biomass, she was quite a bit larger than normal (if not as big as Susan Strong was, perhaps) and there was plenty of room for him to land into her lap, and the two of them bouncing together on the mushroom cap.

There was a gulf, of age and size, between them. But in all honestly, it had never mattered to either of them. Such things were of no concern in Ooo, though Bubblegum was vaguely aware that in the time before the Great Mushroom War, perhaps their size difference alone would have been unseemly. Certainly, their age difference, and that she had known him and been close to him ever since they had met when he was twelve, would have been horrifying to most of the world. The thought gave her pause; the idea of being looked down upon by the ethical standards of ancient days, no matter how separated, was unsettling.

Finn, noticing her gradual mood change and seeking to do something about it, raised his body up and bounced a little. It sent a ripple through the mushroom, and spores waved up around them, and Bubblegum inhaled. These were not ordinary spores, and did not infest the body or grow fungal matter; no, the fungus reproduced by enlightenment, and as ideas spawned in her head, a small mushroom appeared through the ground below.

She opened her mouth. She closed it. She steeled herself and said, "Finn! Does… does it ever bother you?"

Finn peered up at her. There was a look in his face, as if he thought '_ah, here we are'_. "Does what bother me?"

"The… difference between us. How much older I am."

Finn looked surprised. "Peebs, it didn't matter when I was twelve or whatever. Why would it be a big deal now? What's, um, four years or so? No, wait, you're older now, still six years!"

She coughed. "Ah, yes. Hrm." More ideas blazed in the space of her head, and dishonesty, for good or ill, could not be considered. "Finn. I… I _look _eighteen, but, well, yes…" She grinned, awkwardly. "I just _look _eighteen. I'm really honestly a lot older than that."

Finn looked surprised at first. Then, he seemed mildly intrigued, as if she had told him that she had a secret nail gun collection she only brought out when she had trolls in the dungeon. (Everyone knows that nail guns with acid on the nails get rid of trolls. Either that or wands through the nose. But acidic nails are generally more reliable.) "…Huh."

She ran a hand through her hair, feeling shy; for all her experience and time on this world, Finn could make her feel so… off-balance, all with one stray sentence or a special look in his eyes or even a smile like being around him was like a special room where all the world was far away and no trouble to her at all. She shifted against his weight, trying to look cool and not-bothered, but failed; her fingers got stuck briefly; the thick cords, like dreadlocks made into a gummy gooey substance, shimmered as she shook her hands look, and in the sunlight, her hair refracted that light it in brilliant red shades. For a moment, she looked like her head bore a crown of fire.

"Old like Marcy?!" Finn said, goggling at the beauty of the display.

"What? Um, No! At least, ah, I don't _think _so?" Bubblegum's lower lip turned up, her eyes narrowed in thought. Some of her memories went back a long way; sensory impressions older than her thoughts… sometimes she thought she remembered a small gray girl, and a sad man who reeked of the cold, and tainted magic…

She let the thought go. It probably wasn't that important, if she couldn't remember clearly. Around her the mushroom shook in anger, frustrated at her blatantly ignoring a potential enlightenment. She thought it was just caught in the wind.

Finn was talking. "-And elephants mean move your car out of the way, my dad used to say. But he didn't own a car. I always figured he just picked up the saying."

"What?" Bubblegum said, perplexed.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. Just a weird metaphor, it didn't work out." Finn grinned up at her, pulling his legs up so he could slouch across her legs like she were his personal couch. Her gooey body adjusted easily to his weight, and she wiggled around happily at such closeness. This felt… intimate. Moreso than if she were simply to have sex with him; she knew of sexuality, and though it had it's emotional component, there was a firm difference, at least to her, of just a basic biological function, and then being so emotionally close to her friend that they were so comfortable being like this with each other.

She clapped him on the shoulder, chuckling. "Ah, well then. But what did you mean?"

Finn said, "All that age junk, it doesn't matter. My mom used to say, it's all about the heart junk. I like you, you like me, we have fun together and we get along great, so it's all good."

The words seemed to ring true. Possibly the enlightenment spores were helping her to see past the usual self-doubts, double-checking and nervousness she might normally have felt on this rather touchy question, and if so, that was all right. She chuckled. "That simple, huh?"

Finn grinned. It was a slightly mischievous grin, one she had come to associate with some very pleasant times indeed; it was almost challenging. "You're the scientist. Do an experiment! Gimme a kiss and tell me how you feel."

She smiled, and it was almost a warning smile; eyebrows low, eyes half-lidded, and her shoulders lowering as she tilted her face forward. "If you say so," she said in a low rumble. Her lips parted, wetness shining against teeth as sharp and pointed as Lemongrab's (for she like to modify herself, and knew a good idea when she saw one), and she leaned in.

Finn's lips were strong, prickling interestingly where they had been scarred from one battle or another. A very faint sense of prickling, where facial hair was just beginning to grow in around his chin and below his nose. He was not yet experienced - yet - but Bubblegum was _very _skilled in physical love, if not romantic. She thought herself a fine tutor, and Finn was an eager student. He would be great, in time. For all his inexperience, there was an enthusiasm, and his lips pressed against her mouth wetly, with just the right amount of force and give she had come to like from him.

The procedure was repeated again; once, twice, and almost a third before they broke off to suck in air to their tired lungs. Bubblegum said, as soon as she had enough oxygen, "The results are not yet conclusion. Further testing is, ah, _required._"

"I'm up for that," Finn said cheerfully, and below them, the mushroom moved on, pounding through the earth like a dance (and for which it was named).


	3. Doofy

Disclaimer: I do not own Adventure Time.

* * *

The tree house was home to Bubblegum now; she couldn't quite be sure _when _it had become home, more home to her than her own kingdom, but somehow it had happened regardless, even before she had given life to a robot of noble intent and courage, and given her kingdom for the robot to rule and to love.

It was not difficult to say, she considered, that Bonnibel Bubblegum (not _Princess _Bubblegum, not now, not anymore, not ever again and she was deeply grateful for that) had felt like this was home for a long time.

How long had it been, since the castle had seemed like a chore she had to return to and rest for a time before returning to the labor of caring for her citizens; she did not know. Nor did she know just when she had started to honestly dislike her duties, and the dislike curdled into private loathing for her circumstances-

It had started with Marceline, this yearning to just do what she wanted to do. But it was Finn who had really shown her that she truly did have options, it was Finn that made her happy and smiling again, and it was Finn that gave her the inspiration to find a way out, and be free.

She figured that she had been in love for him a long time, even before that. If she did her calculations correctly, and she was usually fairly confident in their skill, she estimated herself to have been experiencing strong platonic feeling for him seventy-two hours after they began associating with each other more constantly. Roughly thirty-two days afterwards the tone had shifted, and though Finn seemed oblivious even now, she realized that... well. Her gifts to him, in the form of missions and adventures he enjoyed, the way she associated with Jake to subtlly ask for Jake's favor, and then the thought occured to her: she had been _courting Finn!_

That was scary, and she'd backed down, trying to pretend she hadn't meant it, it had all been in fun, she _really _wasn't developing non-platonic for a boy physically six years her junior and chronologically so much younger than her that she thought could blink and he would be gone-

She'd gotten good at self-deception.

But that was in the past. So far away that she had thought it strange it could ever have been. And now... yes. Now there was time alone with Finn, now mature enough (a little bit physically enough for her more... carnal interests, but mostly emotionally and mentally, and that was the important thing) to maintain a relationship with her.

Jake approved, grudgingly. So did Marceline and the Flame Princess, when the two dropped in during one of their dates, and Bubblegum considered double-dating; that sounded like fun.

But now, Finn and Bubblegum were home alone more often than not these days; Jake was always wandering abroad on his own errands (and while he missed the days of just him and Finn going around beating the stuff out of all the things, he appreciated that Finn was spending time with Bubblegum and since they were happy and his ship was canon, he was okay with it), and a lot of times they were alone in the living room, doing whatever occurred to them to entertain themselves.

Boy and woman sat on the couch, so deeply entrenched that they might have been living there for years. They were sitting quite close; closer than strictly platonic friends ought to. Close enough for their hips to touch against each other, for her sides to slide against his with a deep squishing noise, and her hair to slide over his shoulder like a living blanket.

They weren't quite cuddling each other; their relationship was so far along that there was no need for that. There was intimacy in merely sitting next to each other, but still their hands had clasped together, fingers aligning so neatly together as though they had been specifically constructed to fit one another.

Neither of them seemed aware that they were holding hands. If they were, then it had happened so often now that it had become a habit.

"Finn, what the fluff are we watching?" Bubblegum said, sitting back into the couch, eyes half-lidded at the television she had built after five minutes at the local dump.

Finn, barely high enough for his head to read the roundness at her chest, shrugged. He peered at the screen; something about a racoon and a blue jay having a totally regular day except that weird stuff happened. "I dunno. Not a regular show, I guess."

"I kinda went to sleep for a bit. Is it good?"

"Yeah!"

"I can't hear it, turn it up, huh?"

"Sure!" Finn reached for the remote. But it was a lazy day, and he was unwilling to get up from the couch; there was a sucking noise as his body left the cushions, briefly, and he rolled back into them. His hand waved ineffectually at the remote, fingers waggling in its general direction, and then he slump back completely. "I can't reach."

"Oh, Finn, that's kinda doofy."

"What?"

"Dorky and goofy?"

Finn arched an eyebrow up at her. "_You're _dorky and goofy!"

Bubblegum glanced back at him. She smiled archly, leaning over him. Her weight pressed against him, pushing him down, and he let out a startled squeak as she was suddenly pressed against him. "You say that like it's a bad thing," Bubblegum said, plainly aware of her size advantage over Finn and enjoying every moment of it.

Finn grinned back. "I totes didn't he said," and the cartoon was forgotten as he leaned his head up, his mouth finding her lips, and kissed her as sweetly as the wind carressing the surface of the ocean.

Bubblegum made a small noise. Not urgent, not needful, calm and relaxed and soothing. She leaned against him more, pressing herself fully against him and laying fully atop as they kissed. Her tongue explored his lips, and further in, analyzing the shape and taste of his own tongue, the heat of his mouth, the receptiveness of his kissing.

He was getting better at it, she noticed. She felt pleased; she was a great teacher for him after all, it seemed.

Her arms moved under his body, hugging him to her body, and her gooey skin seemed to drip a little with the heat pulsing from inside her as she took the lead, Finn gracefully passing it along to her, and they kissed as tenderly as they might in a slow dance.


	4. Catharsis

I don't own Adventure Time.

* * *

Princess Bubblegum sat heavily upon her bed, slowly turning the amulet she'd lost so long ago, and had lost her friend too.

Alone, free from the need to stand high above her subjects and help them believe that she would always protect them and never do wrong, she was free to let the veneer of royalty and emotionless power fade.

There is a faint noise. A sound like a whispering sigh, the expressions of a memories that rasp across her brain like a rusty saw, screaming that she could not have saved her friend, that she should have seen the signs, she should have _helped _her, rescued her, been the hero-

(_And perhaps that is why for so long she has relied on others to be the hero, to rescue her or fight the fights she needed them for; because when it had really counted, when she could have done something and saved Shoko from circumstance and herself, Bubblegum had failed her. She'd choked at the worst moment, and her friend paid the price.) _

Bubblegum feels free, just for a moment, just for a second. Her back hitches. The breath catches in her lungs and her throat seizes up. Shamefully warm wetness streaks on her face, her soft skin feeling almost gooey as her composure _and _stability lapses far more than she would ever dare at any other time.

A stone wall. She feels as a stone wall, a hard thing, an obstruction within and without. The wall holding back the things she wouldn't say, the regrets she'd only let loose in her dreams and narrative she spun in privacy, the things that a Princess could not hold without being too weak to do her duties, the words that she should have said before it was too late.

The sound again, louder than before, itching on her throat and sliding past her lips before she can hold it back, like a wild animal on the loose smashing and roaring about.

It sounds like a sob. Dry and high and from the very depths of herself.

She holds it back. Just for a moment, a brief instant to catch herself, hold herself firm, force herself into the lie of unfeeling perfection she has adopted for so long-

She thinks of Shokan. Then she thinks of Finn. That they are one in the same; that she thought she had lost them both (one in death, the other drifting away as circumstances made things worse and worse). Two people she loved, and lost in their own ways. And then that she had never lost them at all, and they had come _back_.

Finn was Shokan. Shokan was Finn. Shokan had come back from death, in human form and boyish splendor, and hugged her, and kissed her, and loved her, and he had come to her of his own accord and _fixed _things a little-

Her hands tight around the amulet, Bonnibel Bubblegum at last lasts herself cry; raw, ragged, and also glad, for what was lost did not stay lost, and when she expends it, she feels sore, and tired, and healed too.

She calls Finn on the phone, and almost shyly, asks him if he wants to help her build something, do a fun science thing, like a giant robot or a tank for blasting bad guys, or just explore a dungeon.

He says yes, and across the years, Shokan says yes.

Bubblegum doesn't say, that it is a date. But if he asked, she wouldn't say no.


	5. Friend

Written right after I saw The Vault!

I do not own Adventure Time.

* * *

_The first time Bubblegum smiles in her presence, Shokan smiles too. It's a little clumsy, a little awkward, a little crooked; like she doesn't really know how smiles are supposed to work. Bubblegum wonders when the last time anyone has ever smiled at Shokan was. _

_She wonders if anyone ever has._

_"Why are you so nice to me?" Shokan asks. It's plaintitive, pleading; 'why is this happening to me?' her tone asks. 'Nothing turns out this good for me! Ever!' her expression says. 'Please don't let me mess this up!' her shaking stance says._

_Bubblegum has an affinity for broken people. For lost things. For fixing what has been hurt._

_"Because you're my friend!" Bubblegum says, as if it were obvious._

_Shokan looks stunned. "You're... not gonna bug out on me?"_

_"No way!" Her tone is firm, authoritative. Bubblegum feels free around Shokan; like she could be a kid again, be free, be calm, just be herself without having to act tough like she does a lot of times._

_Shokan's face flickers. For a second, she looks like she might say, 'Please don't go away too," or "I'm sorry," but she doesn't. She just smiles, and she says, "Thanks."_

_It's soft, it's quiet._

_Bubblegum's throat closes up at this. There are things she could say, should say-_

_She can't. She smiles, hoping that is enough. She's too scared to say what she wants to. She thinks that she'll have time, later on._

_A few hours later, Shokan is dead._

* * *

_The boy smiles up at her, and she smiles back, with that smile she uses when she's doing political stuff. It's not a real smile, but it can pass pretty well._

_The boy frowns. He says, "You look weird right now. Smiling hurts you or something?"_

_"Huh?" She shakes her head. "I don't... no! I mean-"_

_"Smiling's good for you," the boy says reassuringly. "It puts the bright-jams in your heart-guts!"_

_She goggles for a moment at him, and then she laughs long and loud and happily, like she hasn't done in a long time, she's just been so busy._

_A fleeting thought: it's like being with Shokan again._

_"No, I just, um," she thinks quick. "The Ice King... uh, being around his dumb made my head dumb!" She giggles, and-_

_He grins, broad and honest and slaps her palm in a high-five she eagerly returns. "Hah! Jake said that kind of junk never happens, but it totes does!" He tilts his head. "If you're telling the truth, yeah?"_

_She flushes despite herself. She's never met anyone that can see through her like that. Marceline could pick her way past her defenses, but it was a harsh method, almost biting and mean-spirited at times (or so Bubblegum felt). This, this boy is like he just knows her in a way, understands her far more than he should._

_Like she's known him for ages, and he came back after being gone for too long. A sincere friend, maybe even the seeds of _more _than just a friend (he's young, but he'll grow up soon, and it would be fun to be around that whole time)._

_It's a nice feeling, having a friend even if its weird him just knowing her like that._

_She smiles, more free than she's felt before. "You're fun," she says without thinking about it. "Um. Care to come to my castle for, I dunno, cake and stuff?"_

_He grins wide. "Oh wowza! A castle! Never been to one like that! Except for Ice King. Um. He doesn't count. Bad guys are lame like that."_

_Both of them giggle. She wants to adulate him, praise him, but she's scared to do too much and scare him. She heisitates._

_At her castle, hours later, she plucks up the courage to ramble on about how much of a hero he is._

_There's plenty of time for that, years of it, for her and the boy. Her Finn._

* * *

And after Finn returned the amulated and told her... everything, Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum considered that the first time Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum saw Finn, there was something familiar in him.

The look of his eyes, the way he smiled a little too wide.

It reminded her of, of a friend.

_(The smell of decay in her nose, the tingle on her limbs, and that tiger quietly laying down and never getting up again; and she feels that she _failed _Shoko, that she could have done something, and now it is all wrong and her friend is _dead-_)_

And it had been many years, since she had known someone she could comfortable call a friend; there were T-shirts and sleepless nights, yes, but there was tension there, and strife, and things falling apart that could not be pieced together so easily; that lovely girl, Shoko, things had been fun with her, easy like they never were with Marceline or other friends and lovers she'd had.

And then came Finn, and everything with him was lovely and sweet and beautiful, though things went sour after some time because she and her feelings have never been on speaking terms.

And now, the phone call, the amulet under the house, and his lips pushing out the words and unfamiliar emotion wells up in her when she realizes that Shoko died but Shoko _came _back.

Shoko was sorry, for what she did, and now Shoko had atoned for it, _Finn _had atoned for it.

She hugs him, and smiles, sniffling a little, and suddenly the coldness and harshness of the last few years with Finn is much brighter.

The world feels nicer.


	6. Caring

Disclaimer: I don't own Adventure Time and do not make any profit from this.

* * *

She prided herself on her plans, on her ability to devise and follow through the scheme most likely to succeed and produce the biggest net result in favor of Good, and she liked it when a plan really worked out.

(She had enough of failures, of heartache, of doing ruin to those she loved.)

The way she loved Finn was quiet as the wind rising from mountains, as subtle as the fine-tuning of electromagnetic pulse relays that you didn't even notice that change had been done. But she loved him, sincerely and honestly, and she worked to make things work _out _for them as much as she did anything else; he didn't know, most of the time, he didn't notice that she made things easier for him, fine for him, but she didn't mind. It was just a difference between them.

But she longed for him, to be free, to make peace. Finn gave her the inspiration to do it.

Hand and heart, mind and thought; that was how she made things work. The idea came to her after the Lich took her body and she was freed, and then when she was made to be an adult again. She hated it, and hated it worse after she had some time to herself and realized how _badly _she had messed things up between Finn and her, and she forced herself to work hard and fix things. She made mistakes, trying to make an heir so she could fix it all and just... be free.

('_Be with Finn', _the thought said treacherously. That was not the whole of it, but it was something to drive her onward, that she wanted desperately.)

And then, it was done. Synthetic life under her hands, opening eyes and bowing head gracefully to the demands of leader ship, and Bubblegum felt herself falling free as her new robotic heir accepted the throne to the Candy Kingdom, and then she simply was not Princess anymore. The moment that tiara left her head for the final blessed time...

Well. She was only Bonnibel Bubblegum. It felt nice. Only a science hero with ambitions greater than responsibility to one kingdom; she would bring scientific glory to all the world, she decided. Finn was there, when she made that pronouncement. Admittedly, it was only in front of Finn, Marceline, Flame Princess, Jake and Beemo, and Susan Strong lurking somewhere near the back with her fingers in her mouth, but honestly she didn't really know anyone else she legitimately _cared _about, so it was all right.

And caring was a frightening thing, when she thought of it. There was a time, not long after she moved into Finn's house, that Finn fell asleep in front of the TV, snoring gently and resting into her, and Bubblegum watched him for a good fifteen minutes contently watching the steady rise and fall of his chest.

Her hand found his hand then, resting upon it and squeezing. A great surge of heat had flooded through her, dizzying her with its intensity.

She'd kept these emotions buried for a long time; not daring to act upon them, when he was so young that it might have ruined her plans and friendship with him, when there were responsibilities preventing them from coming together. Buried so long, Finn hadn't known they had ever been there.

No more, she had decided.

And it was strange, going from one normal to another; A Bonnibel-less house was suddenly empty when she wasn't there, the couch slowly molded itself around the place where she came to sit every night. And on her own adventures, journeying far on her own quests (sometimes without Finn and Jake, sometimes with them), it was good to think of home waiting for her, that lovely tree house in the Grasslands, free for her to return when she wanted to.

And then, sometimes, just walking along on her own way, and Finn has happy to hold hands with her and not really think about it.

It was fun. It was nice. And it didn't hurt to care, now.

And the first time he said her name - 'Bonnibel', the word whispered like a holy sound on the lips of a devoted priest - she felt so warm that she might have burned, and kissed him soft and sweet, like rain on new snow.

It was good, she decided. Finn was perfect enough.


End file.
